Backdoor

Backdoor

A backdoor is a method, often secret, ofbypassing normal authentication in a product, cryptosystem or algorithm etc.Backdoors are often used for securing unauthorized remote access to a computer,or obtaining access to plaintext in cryptographic systems.

A backdoor may take the form of a hiddenpart of a program, a separate program, or may be a hardware feature. Althoughnormally surreptitiously installed, in some cases backdoors are deliberate andwidely known. These kinds of backdoors might have “legitimate” uses such asproviding the manufacturer with a way to restore user passwords.

Default passwords can function as backdoorsif they are not changed by the user.  Somedebugging features can also act as backdoors if they are not removed in therelease version.